Liquid shaving-soap.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOEL STARBEIQS, OF MONTCLAIB, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ELLIS-FOSTERCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LIQUID sHAvme-s'oAr.

No Drawing.

vzen of the United States, and resident of Montclair, in the county ofEssex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Liquid Shaving-Soap, of which the following is a.specification.

This invention relates to soap of a liquid or freely fluent and mobilenature as will be hereinafter described; said soap being intended oradapted for shavin purposes in contradistinction to the or inary liquidtoilet soaps now in extensive use.

Shaving soaps have been made in the form of a solid cake, as a powderand as a paste, but up to the present time, so far as I am advised, nosatisfactory shaving composition in a liquid form has been prepared. Ashaving composition must form a free lather which remains substantiallyunchanged on the face for the period required in shaving. Liquid soapsas usually prepared perhaps may lather freel but the lather is notpermanent. On the ace it will be found to dry with a slight cracklingnoise due to rupture of the bubbles formed in making the lather. It isnecessary to revent this action and secure a bubble film which hassuflicient tension or toughness to persist during the shaving period. Aliquid soap made from cocoanut oil will for example lather profusely butas soon as applied to the face the crackling or snap ing of the latheris found to take place an before the operation of shaving is completethe lather is practically dry.

Sodium and potassium stearate and palmita'te aid in giving ermanency tothe lather but these ordinari y give too great a consistency yieldingpaste or solid forms, or thick preparations which gelatinize on standingespecially in cold weather.

I have found that stearate materialmay be incorporated with other soapmaterial to produce a liquid soap which has a profuse lather and onewhich is substantially permanent so as to afford a practical liquidshaving soap, for which a demand has long existed but which has notheretofore been produced, to the best of my knowledge.

I will first give an illustrative formula and then discuss the variousconsiderations,

theoretical and practical, which obtain under the present invention,especially Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 26, 1918.

Application filed March 23, 1914. Serial No. 826,612.

as directed to the preferred embodiment thereof.

Preferably a liquid soap base is first pre pared by boiling or heatingpounds each of cocoanut oil and corn oil, and 33 pounds of causticpotash with a quantity of water sufficient to accomplish saponificationand to leave in the finished base about 575 pounds of water. The causticused is preferably about 7 5% KOH and 10% potassium carbonate althoughcaustic of other grades may be used. After completion of thesaponification the base may be clarified by adding a gallon or two ofsaturated alum solution and well stirred and filtered. This treatmentremoves bodies which otherwise mlght coagulate and settle to thedetriment of the appearance of the base. The amount of caustic potashgiven above is somewhat in excess and the proportion may be reduced incase with the soap fats employed, a too alkaline base results. Causticalkali is active on the skin and should not be pres ent in such anamount as to cause stinging or burning of the epidermis. It is howeverusually required,that some alkali be present in order to soften thebeard and carbonated alkali may be used for this purpose as it is lessactive on the skin. The proportion should be carefully regulated as anexcess will cause burning. I have treated the above composition withcarbon dioxid until a faint turbidity appears when carbonate is formedto the required extent. This may be carried out readily simpl bybubbling the dioxid through the liqui base.

For high lathering properties it is important to use cocoanut 011 or therelated 0il-palm kernel fat, but the accompanying oil, corn oil may besubstituted by other oils of similar properties, such as cotton seed orolive oil and the like, or the base may be made of cocoanut oil or theproportions varied more or less as will now be apparent from the presentdisclosure.

To 100 pounds of the above base, 5 pounds of sodium stearate, 15 pounds.of potassium stearate and 2 pounds of sugar are added and the mixturedigested with heating until these bodies are well incorporated. Thecomposition is allowed, to cool and perfuming agents may be added asrequired.

When cool, the preferred composition is liquid and has disseminatedthrough it, a quantity of fine pearly flakes, which do not materiallyinterfere with the mobility of the product and which, unlike manypreparations containing stearate, do not settle quickly, and the user isnot necessarily required to resort to vigorous shaking each time thepreparation is used, in order to secure a uniform mixture. The additionof sugar apparently aids in such suspension and the proportion of thelatter as Well as the amo'unt'of the stearate employed may be varied tosecure this condition with respect to the other ingredients employed.Potassium stearate alone in place of sodium stearate may also beemployed but the combination of the two alkalis usually improves thelather, and although 10% and upward of sodium stearate or potassiumstearate Will gelatinize with water to a paste or solid, under thepresent conditions, the surprising fact appears that a liquid mobileproduct is secured. This may be ascribed to the presence of protectivecolloids which prevent the formation of a steal-ate gel from its sol. Bythus having a protective colloid present, a stable composition isobtained and any stearate which may separate does not quickly settle aswould ordinarily be expected, but remains suspended for a noticeableperiod. Therefore when a sample of the preferred composition iswithdrawn, it will be fairly uniform in composition and will give goodresults at all times. The lather produced by a small amount of theproduct is profuse and in fact the volume of lather from a relativelysmall quantity of the composition is so great as to appear quitedisproportionate to the amount of soap taken. I have therefore devisedand compounded a shaving soap which gives a quick, voluminous andprofuse lather which does not have any objectionable drying propertieswhen applied to the face.

It should be noted that in the preferred form of my invention, noalcohol is required to maintain fluidity, which is an advantage, asalcohol tends to destroy the surface tension or some similar property sothat the permanency of the lather is aifected. Besides alcohol is acostly ingredient or addition.

Soaps made from liquid oils which contain olelc acid as the primeingredient lather well in cold water but do not work as well in hotwater while the reverse is true of the stearate and sodium stearateespecially is practically without lather in cold water although underthe present conditions it exerts a .useful effect on the lather, whichresult is obtained in the preferred form of the invention by the mutualor cooperative action of the sodium or potassium stearates or equivalentmaterials. The proportion of one part of sodium to 3 parts potassiumstearate is one which I have found to be well suited for incorporationwith the oleic portion of the composition, that is the saponiiiedproduct heretofore designated as soap ase.

By calculation of the ratio existing between the liquid fats or fattyacids and the solid fats or stearic acid as well as the proportion ofthe alkali and its distribution in the finished product between liquidand solid fat, it will be evident that the stearate soap exists in thepreferred composition in some peculiar state which in the main isresponsible apparently for the new and unexpected result attained.

One great advantage of a shaving soap in a liquid form is the fact thatsuch a saponified product may be used in soap dispensers, like thoseused at the present time with ordinary liquid soaps, and thus shavingsoap may likewise be handled in a Similar sanitary and hygienic manner.

What I claim is A liquid shaving soap containing alkali stearate in asupersaturated condition in an aqueous solution of a freely soluble softsoap forming a composition which remains permanently as a non-pastyfluent liquid which possesses very free lathering qualities and whichforms a lather drying with extreme slowness and which does not formheavy deposits of stearin soap material.

Signed at Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey,this twentieth day of March, A. D. 1914.

JOEL STARRELS.

Witnesses:

I. DAVID Luesrsm, NATHANIEL L. Fos'rnn.

